Air Canada to Soon Resume Direct Flights to India

Canada’s national airline, Air Canada will soon resume its flight services to India. The airline suspended its India operations on May 31, 2007 after finding them uneconomical.

Air Canada plans to operate its Boeing 787-900 from Toronto to New Delhi from November 2, 2015. The carrier will begin with four flights in a week and will gradually enhance the frequency of its flights to seven a week.

“The type of aircraft was the issue. The Boeing 787-900 made it sensible and economical to operate direct flights to India because it’s cheap to operate,” said Duncan Bureau, Vice-President, Global Sales-Air Canada.

Boeing 787-900 aircraft has been configured to provide 29 seats in business class, 21 in premium economy, and 247 seats in the economy class. As of now, the Canadian carrier flies only the Boeing 787-800 series aircraft and the first delivery in the 787-900 series is being used for the New Delhi flight service.

There are reports that the airline will also start operating Toronto-Mumbai flights after the launch of flights to New Delhi. Even a New Delhi-Vancouver flight is being considered, as per reports.

The move is likely to boost the passenger traffic between India and Canada. As per the data available in the media, the number of travellers to Canada was approximately 175,000 in 2014. This was around 20 percent more than that of the previous year, 2013.

Canada hopes to attract more visitors from India. The Canadian authorities are also making it less cumbersome for Indian travellers to get a visa for a visit to Canada.